University Library University of California • Berkeley

SPEECH

DELIVERED AT

MUSICAL HALL, SAN FRANCISCO,

AUGUST 5th, 1859.

REVISED FROM

The Phonographic Report of the " Sacramento Union,"

SAN FRANCISCO: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DAILY NEWS.

1859.

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\

BANCROFT UMAWX

MR.

SPEECH OF

EDMUND RANDOLPH,

Delivered at Musical Hall, San Francisco, August 5, 1859.

The meeting was called to order at half-past 8 o'clock. Thomas J. Poulterer was called to the Chair. After returning thanks for the honor conferred upon him, Mr. Poulterer introduced to the meeting the speaker of the evening, EcUuund Randolph.

Mr. RANDOLPH said — Fellow-citizens : I have Bought the opportunity of addressing you this evening, riot from any desire of making a public speech — for that I would rather avoid — but be cause I believe that when a man is a candidate for office, it is his duty to present himself before the people, and do them the homage of person ally soliciting their votes. The office, gentlemen, to which, with your aid, I seek to be elected, is one requiring a certain degree of prefessional at tainments, and the usual fitness for a public trust. In none of these things do I claim any advantage over my competitors. With one of them, Mr. Love, I should be content to be placed on an equality. As to the young gentleman who is a candidate on another ticket, I do not know so much ; but certainly I know nothing to his pre judice. Therefore, gentlemen, in asking your votes, I ask them upon political grounds alone. I desire that every man who may vote for me for this position, may do so for the purpose of ex pressing a political opinion ; and that if there is any man who, when he knows my opinions, though he may be intending to vote for the ticket, should not agree with me politically, I desire that he will remove my name from the ticket. It will give mo infinitely more satisfac tion to receive any considerable number of votes upon the ground of my political position and polit ical opinions, than to receive all the votes that will be cast at this election upon any other ground. [Applause.] Asking, then, your suffrages upon political grounds alone, it becomes me to say to you that I belong now, and always have be longed, to the party of Democratic opinions. At no time have I been associated, in any degree, with any other party, society, or sect in politics.

[Applause.] Always, it has been my wish and endeavor to adhere also to the Democratic organ ization, and support the nominees of Democratic Conventions ; and this I have done so far as my conscience would permit. [Applause.] It is true, however, it has oft-times been my lot in California to vote against the nominees of the Democratic party. I have done so, always, upon one ground alone : and that my personal convic tion. Upon this subject I desire to say that I am not one of those who believe that the rights and duties of a citizen are in any degree compromised by association with a political party. Above all other duties, I hold to be that of doing the best which lies within our power to give to our country proper rulers. [Applause.] In my theory, Con ventions are not the masters, but the servants of the people [applause] ; that it always becomes a Convention, assembled for the purpose of nomi nating candidates, to justify their work to the people; not that it is the duty of the people always to obey the dictates of their own agents. [Applause.] My confidence and respect for the intelligence of the people also teach me that whenever any considerable portion of a party re fuses to support the nominations of a Convention, that then, not the recusants, but the Convention stands rebuked. [Applause.] I say these things, gentlemen, from a desire to deal to-night with rny audience with the utmost frankness and can dor. If any man finds in these views anything to object to, his remedy is the simplest in the world: Vote for some man other for the office of Attorney-General of the State of California. At the present moment the Democratic party is greatly divided. On the one hand we see Demo crats : on the other hand Democrats also. We see Democrats who stand away from the party, silent, taking no part in the contest. Again, we see occasionally Democrats who, for a genera tion, have been known as staunch among the staunchest, going over and joining the Republi cans. Of this last I may take the liberty of nam-

ing only one — an old friend who was with me in the National Democratic Convention of 1848, which nominated Mr. Cass for the Presidency, and who has been a Democrat more years, per haps, than I have lived ; and who, I believe, will himself be a Democrat again, unless such a step should come in conflict with some of his new opinions. I don't know how that might be. I allude to Mr. Thomas Grey, one known well to the people of San Francisco — whom they have trusted and found honest. [Applause. There are many more of whom the same may be said. All these things show how, at this moment, the great Democratic party stands divided — how there are two wings directly arrayed against each other; as well as another portion standing entirely indifferent, mute dumb; others, driven away, and taking refuge in another organization. Under such circumstances, the question for us all to put to ourselves, the question which I put to myself is. Where shall I go? On which side? This is getting now to be the important question the preeminent, political-personal inquiry, the question which each one must now decide for him self. Party feeling is running high, blood has grown warm, and on whichever side you are dis posed to go, there will be some friend on the oth er side to meet you and say: Is it possibls that you are going to join that set over there? I turn my eyes in the direction indicated, artd see only my fellow-citizens of the State of California — see only members of the Democratic party; and when such an appeal is made to me to refrain from taking a position with any considerable portion of the people of California, or any considerable portion of the Democratic party in California, such an appeal falls without any weight whatso ever. I am not able to decide this question from personal predilections, or personal antipathies. I regard as unworthy of ourselves individually, unworthy the great duty we are soon to perform, the thought of deciding such a question in such a manner. Again, some will say to us : Look back to the past, review the turbulent and some what turbid history of our party in this State, and is it possible that you will join this wing or that faction, or the other clique, with the responsibility on their shoulders, of this or the other sinful act or omission ? — pointing to something in the past. For the life of me, I am unable to discover anything Which, in my poor judgment, lends to the one party, or section of a party, a precedence over the other, in a moral view. I only do not see that all sections, all classes, all sects political, embraced now or heretofore within the Demo cratic organization, have been otherwise than equally guilty. Gentlemen, I know of no Purity Party ; I know of no set of men in a political as sociation who can undertake for themselves to thank God that they are not as other men are. So far as the history of the Democratic party in the State of California is concerned, I think that in the regards alluded to, all wings may be said to stand pretty much on an equality. But, gen tlemen, I look a little nearer : I do see a Hue dis tinct, at last, which begins to operate with me to some extent. Two forces have always wrought

upon the great mass of the Democratic party in this State. One is a foreign influence — rela tively speaking. I see the indications of a party who take their opinions from abroad ; who think and say as they are told in the city of Washington to think and say [great applause and cries of " Good !"] — a party well backed up with foreign money, so far as we are concerned — relatively speaking; that is, with money from the Treasury of the United States. [Applause. "The curse of the State."] In that party I see no ground for pretension to superiority over their neighbors. And I desire to say that in an equality of sin and in an equality of virtue, give me rather the party of the State of California, which endeavors to make its opinions, and make its men, and take an independent position in the councils of the Nation. [Prolonged applause.] All these things, in my own personal connection with this matter, which has been exceedingly limited, have been distinctly illustrated. The last time that I had the honor of addressing the people of San Francisco on a political occasion was in 1853. At that time there was one of the nomi nations made by a conven;ion of the Democratic party which most indubitably met with my dis approbation, and in the exercise of my individual right as a citizen, and iu response to the call of a number of gentlemen, I felt constrained to oppose it. In so doing, the bitterest opponents I met with, in the press and before the people, were precisely those gentlemen who one year after wards took up every word I had said and repeat ed them with amplifications and with a reproach ful and bitter spirit, which I had never thrown into the canvass. What was the reason? Why, geiitlemen, it is as plain as anything can be. The party which in '54 pretended to be more virtuous, to be purer than the other portion of the Demo cratic party, were actuated merely by a disputo about the division of the proceeds of the common victory in the year '53. [Laughter and applause.] I do not undertake to give my opinion of the past as any rule for any other man's opinion ; I do not propose to reopen any of those things which have gone by ; I desire that the past may sleep ; but its present application is, that so far as any divi sion in the Democratic party is concerned, so far as there is any claim to superior merit, purity or virtue, it is without any foundation ; and those who make it never thought of it until a Sena torial election was in question. In the year 1854, those gentlemen who took the very same position which I had taken in '53, afterwards became so exceedingly proud of it that to this day they do not seem to remember that anybody had gone before them, and perhaps they were eventually enabled to persuade themselves to believe that they were the first persons who thought of any thing of the kind. [Laughter.] Now, gentle men, neither in the history of politicians, any more than in the personal merits, any more than in the relative degrees of purity and virtue of individuals, can I find any thing to guide me at this time in the choice of my political course and opinions. I must look further than this. I take up next the platforms of the two wings, so

called, of the Democratic party; both of them this year are unusually short. Read them, each one of you, for yourselves. I have read them, and from beginning to end, they are almost pre cisely the same, save one point of difference, and that distinction consists in the fact that tho Federal patronage party are pledged to support the Administration of James Buchanan. Now, I am one who, from, the bottom of my soul, OPPOSE the Administration of James Buchanan. [ Great applause. ] At last I have reached firm ground, at last I see something by which I am able to determine my choice as to what party I shall act with in this election. [Applause.] But, gentlemen, friendly objections do not cease, even yet. There are many whom I meet with in my daily walks — men whom I re spect highly — who disavow all connection or sympathy with the acts of this Administra tion, who say: Admit all these charges to be true: suppose everything which you have to al lege against the Administration of James Bu chanan is true, is it not better to bear with his rule two years longer, and see if we will not get a better choice the next time? Gentlemen, I know of nothing which iurnisb.es a parallel to this proposition, except it be the discussion I lately read in the newspapers, which is said to have taken place in a balloon. The balloon was being driven rapidly through the heavens by a hurricane, and losing fast its power of remain ing in the air. descended towards the eartli and was near to being dashed into the waters of Lake Ontario, then lushed into fury by the storm. Then a discussion arose among the parties occupying seats in the car attached, whether they should let the baloon come down there, take their chances of being fished up by a schooner, or' make for the land. One thought it better to re main in Jthe lake and run the risk of a billowy grave,while another believed it preferable to make for the laud and take the chances of being dashed against the rocks or transfixed by the bough of a tree — with a probability, however, of a safe return. I am of that latter opinion. Let us not remain any longer with this Administra tion ; let us make for the land now, and not wait to be fistied out by a Charleston Convention. [Great applause and laughter.] Gentlemen, it is impossible to begin to discuss the history of the present Administration at any other point than the Kansas question. And also, gentlemen, it is impossible to say any thing in regard to thisgreat question which has not been said before, and said a great doal better than it is in my power to say it. However, being born in the South, hav ing been educated in the South, being, I suppose, as completely a Southern man now as a man can and of right ought to be, who is thoroughly a California n, I prefer, in expressing my opinion, to adopt the language of a Southern statesman. In the words of Hammond : I think the recom mendation of the President of the United States to adopt the Constitution for the Territory of Kansas which was proposed atLecompton ought to have been kicked out of the Congress of the United States [App4au.se.] The only thing in this connection which excites my wonder is,

that the man who, within less than a year after he hud voted for the bill alluded to, expressed such an opinion, had not at the proper time done what was in his power to accomplish the desired object. My objection to this pro ceeding with reference to the Territory of Kan sas is the simplest that can be proposed to mor tal man. It is simply because I do not believe that the people of Kansas ever made the Consti tution ; and if the people of Kansas never made the Constitution, in the name of God, by what kind of reasoning, by what process of justifica tion, can a man bring himself to the point to say that the people of Kansas should be governed by such a Constitution ? [Applause.] Away with logic, away with fine distinctions, no quibbling, no special pleading of a lawyer, but did the people of Kansas frame the Constitution ? Is it their own work or not? Never were these men bold enough to say that the people of Kansas approved of that Constitution. Therefore, when the President of the United States did bring all his power to bear, all his influence, in every shape and form, to impose it upon the people in Kanzas, HE DID ATTEMPT THE MOST MON STROUS OUTRAGE EVER HEARD OF IN A FREE COUNTRY. [Great applause.] The oldest man to day in California, who had not seen the proceed ings of the President, the Administration and its supporters upon that matter, could never have been made to believe upon any man's assertion, or by any kind or specimen of argument, that such a thing was possible in these free United States of North America. [Great applause.] Gentlemen, this proceeding has more than one side to it. That of which we hear most is that of which T have just been speaking. The out rageous endeavor to force upon a people an or ganic law which they never created was, in effect, but an insult, because no rational man ever did believe that that Constitution could by any process be made to work in Kansas. It was a gross indignity to that people. It was, for a time, a denial of the rights, which, at the same moment, it was confessed they should have en joyed. All the proceedings went upon the ad mission that Kansas ought to have a Constitu tion, and the attempt to force upon the people of that Territory a Constitution not of their own making, was simply a denial of this cardinal right of freemen. But gentlemen, mark you, how this thing branded this Administration ; how, in making this futile, this vain, this point less attempt against a free people, who could never be brought to subjection, wounding all the sensibilities of all right feeling men from one end of the Union to the other, mark you. how the President of the United States did continue to make his damnation still deeper and blacken himself still more. Look at the PERSONAL TREACHERY of this man James Buchanan, Presi dent of these United States. Does any man deny that the President wrote a letter instruct ing Robert J. Walker to go to Kansas and en deavor to procure a submission of the Constitu tion to the people of Kansas ? President Bu chanan, by the most urgent solicitation, induced Mr. Walker to go to Kansas on this mission,

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with instructions precisely as I hare declared them. I think that, never before, in the course of our political history, was there an instance where a man was urged into the perform ance of a great public duty, and when he had completed his required work, or done all that lay in his power to bring about the exact fulfil ment of his commission, was turned upon by the President, his former professed friend, de livered over to his enemies, abandoned, reviled and sacrificed by the President who sought him out for the service he faithfully followed accord ing to the terms of the appointment. Can Du plicity go farther than that? Can we find any thing in Double-dealing, in Treachery, in False hood, which.will come quite up to such a stand ard as that, when a man, holding the pre-eminent position of President of the United States, by personal, vehement solicitation prevails upon a gentleman of high standing to take a position, which required great firmness indeed, but the instructions in regard to which were plain and complete, and then turns upon him, denies him, derides him, and delivers him over to the persecutors. [Sensation.] Gentlemen, it goes a little farther : There was a vast deal of vaporing and bullying about this matter, as well as dupli city. It was pretended that the President never would take another course. It was announced, up to the last moment, that this Constitution, after having been framed and passed upon by a so-called Convention at Lecompton, never should be submitted directly to a vote of the people. Yet, gentlemen, notwithstanding all that, it was submitted virtually ; an entire submission being avoided only by the most palpable shuffle. It was in this way: Though the Constitution en tire never was submitted,certain propositions were submitted ; and just according as the vote ou those propositions stood were the people consid ered to have voted on the whole Constitution. By that sort of an ingenious quibble did the President manage to keep up a reputation for firmness — in never submitting the Constitution to the people of Kansas, at the same time allowing the people of the Territory to vote upon it at last. It is like betting at faro, where all that pas ses, visibly, is certain white and red chips, but money is the real thing won or lost. A person may go to the /arc table and pretend that he has not been guilty of gambling, as well as Mr. Bu chanan can pretend that he has vindicated his firmness, and has not been driven to submit the Lecompton Constitution to a vote of the people, after protesting so strongly that he never would do so In submitting the propositions comes another circumstance, which I do not know how to qualify without venturing upon the use of lan guage improper to use before such an intelligent audience. But what shall I say ? When, at last, the Constitution is sent to the people for an in- dorsingor rejecting vote, they are told that if they vote in a certain way they shall come in as a State, at once: but if they do not vote in that way they shall not come in now, nor until they shall have obtained a much larger popula tion than they now possess. Can anything be plainer than this; that if the people of Kansas

had a right to make a Constitution of one sort, they had the same right to make a Constitution of another sort ; that if this Administration put in a condition which was to operate only in a particular case — was to have no effect unless the people rejected the Lecompton Constitution, such action was arbitrary and tyrannical in the last degree. [Applause.] I do not assume to say to you one single word on this question which you have not al ready heard, and heard a thousand times, perhaps. But, gentlemen, such is the case. It is not my fault if it is so plain. These are the indisputable facts. How then shall a man justify this Ad ministration even for a moment? But, gentle men, what I felt most regret for in this matter ia what, perhaps, is not heard so much of. It is that the South, that portion of the Confederacy from which I come, which had always been proud of the purity of its escutcheon without a stain, without a reproach — should have been led into supporting the President of the United States upon so grave a matter as this. I regret that the South should have been induced to lend her self to the President in covering his crime in this affair ; that, at last, for acting under the influ ence of this Administration, a man may point his finger at the South and say : One thing you have done which you cannot justify by the standard of your own morality. [Great applause.] There was the real injury ? Kansas had suffered little. I presume that in a short time Kansas will be a State, and few people within her borders may con tinue to cherish a remembrance of these facts. But many a day, many a year, will elapse before it ia forgotten that the people, the representatives of the people of the South, under the Administration of James Buchanan, aided the President in at tempting this disgraceful imposition upon that young community. [Applause.] What was it that induced the South to indorse this thing? For the mere name, shadow and pretence of in troducing slavery where slavery would never go, so that all this reproach has fallen upon our people, all for naught, for no one who under stands the opinions of the people of Kansas, who knows the nature of the country in dif- erent latitudes — under no circumstances will such a man presume to say that ever Kansas could be a slave State. Never. Therefore, for a mere name, the bare idea of making a slave State on paper, the South was misled to lend their aid in this matter. But, gentlemen, this is not the point of beginning in this matter. In the reso lutions adopted at Cincinnati, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-six, there are resolutions which do most vitally concern all the people and States of the South, resolutions which pledged this Administration to maintain the ascendancy of the Government of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico, and maintain a predominant influence oa all the Isthmian routes. These were of real interest to the South, and all of these were for gotten in this melancholy rage and madness to carry through an impossible and utterly worthless fraud. [Applause.] So deeply involved, so steadfastly engaged were the Presi dent and all his Cabinet and advisers in perpe-

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trating the Kansas outrage, that all these things were totally forgotten. At that very period, when the Executive attention was riveted on this scheme, the English navy rode haughtier than ever before in the Gulf of Mexico.

At that very time one Isthmian route was entirely closed, and another in imminent danger of being closed. In every country, from our southern line to the equator, the name of the United States had become a by-word and a reproach, and the influence of our Govern ment was utterly lost. There was the real injury which was done during that session of Congress. Because, as matters stood, with the alliance between France and England, the united diplomatic forces of France and England brought to bear to support this order of affairs, there was great cause to fear that these two European Powers would gain a sure and permanent foothold in the States to our south. Perhaps, from this danger,the Government of the U. States escaped by the entanglements which soon took place on the Continent of Eu rope. In the distracted condition of Mexico and the States below her, and with the great activity prevailing in the diplomacy of the powers to whom I have referred, and with the navies of these two great powers acting in concert, nothing was more possible.nothing more reasonable, than the obtain ing of a firm and lasting foothold by European Na tions immediately upon our southern boundaries. Perhaps, I say, we owe to the present war in Eu rope a safety from such impending events. Not un to us, not unto our own Government's foresight,do we owe anjr improvement in the complexion of our affairs with our Southern neighbors. Gentlemen, when I commence speaking of our foreign rela tions the first thing which occurs to my mind is the language of the resolution adopted by the Ad ministration Convention which recently met in this State, lauding this Administration for procur- ingthe abandonment of the right of search byGreat Britain. Have you paid any attention to that ? Do you know with how many qualifications this abandonment is madB? I will tell you some of them. In the first place, while they have " aban doned the right of search," they claim the right to search when they have cause of suspicion [laughter] ; and in that way, or under that ex ception, they have, since this boasted " abandon ment," overhauled one vessel, invaded, searched and actually burnt her, on the coast of Africa. Another exception to this "abandonment " is, that if the British Government has a Minister in a foreign country, and if any vessels bound to that country are supposed to be likely to carry ammunition or means of disturbance to the inhabitants of that country, then again, in that case, she reserves the right to search. This is a declaration of the British Government to Mr. Dallas, in an official communication. Again, if vessels happen to be lying in the port of Grey- town, the British Government claim the right of search, by virtue of a piotecto- rate. But our Government pretended not to recognize that protectorate and yet this exception seems to have been agreed to by this Administration — certainly we have heard

no word of complaint on that subject from an Administration source. I do not think much of any " abandonment of the right of search" with all these reservations and conditions. I think that it is very much like a Chinese vic tory. I know of nothing unless it is that which at all resembles it. "When the British took pos session of Canton the Chinese were compelled to buy off their enemies by the payment of a great many millions of pounds sterling. They paid the money and the British went away. Then the Chinese boasted loudly, and had a great time about it. They boasted as much as our Admin istration does about the right of search having been abandoned. They said : These poor for eigners were exhausted in means and we treated them kindly, and we gave them money to live upon when they got home ; and all the Chinese, upon that, cry out at the victory which has been obtained over the British. [Great laughter and applause.]

One other great triumph of this Administration is the celebrated I'araguay Expedition. [Laugh ter.] This famous expedition set out with great pomp, with many ships of war, carrying great guns and many hundreds of armed men, for the purpose of " demanding satisfaction" from a Gov ernment somewhere in the very heart of South America. This expedition was fitted out and carried through at a cost of five or six millions of dollars. I suppose that there is no man who is able exactly to say how much it did cost. Now, I will tell you how much it gained. I think that $10,000 was secured as a compensa tion to the family of an American seaman who had lost his life from some act of the Govern-

m<A VOICE American man-of-war.

MR. RANDOLPH — On board of an American vessel-of-war, by a shot fired from a Paraguay an fort; $10,000 was the sum gained; five, six or seven millions was expended. Then the President of Paraguay agrees with the President of the United States that all other demands shall be left out to referees, and for whatever sum the referees report the President of Paraguay will give his note. [Great laughter.] That is all that has actually been gained by this Paraguay Expedition, save and except always a famous letter written hy one James B. Bowlin, who was sent out as Peace Commissioner, instructed by James Buchanan, who hates war, in the name of God to stop anything like fighting. [Laughter.] This letter explains to you how it was that this Administration was enabled to procure so distin guished a success in regulating these affairs in South America. It was the simplest way in the world. As soon as the fleet arrived in the har bor of Montevideo, the American Commissioner goes ashore to reconnoiter, and. as he writes to the President, he was rather coldly received. He didn't like that; he was afraid that there was some war in it. [Cheers and laughter.] Therefore he picks out the most important man in that place and tells him to use all his influence to pre vent any fighting, for it is not his intention, with all his fleet/to do anything like shooting. [Laugh-

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ter.] Then these suspicious people became more agreeable, aud of this fact the President of the United States is duly informed by the Commis sioner for the United States. Commissioner Bow- lin then proceeds a little further up the river and he comes to another country — it don't matter about the name of it. There Mr. Bowlin is met by General Urquiza, and he is treated in tha same manner in which he is treated below. Bow- lin takes the General one side and assures him that nothing like fighting is intended. [Laugh ter.] Mr. Bowlin says that Urquiza i> delighted and most delightful is the manner in which Mr. Bowlin describes the delight. He don't express himself in an ordinary way. He says that after giving them these assurances:

"I assured him that, whilst I was compelled to decline his mediation as the bearer of the olive branch, aud knowing the views of the Adminis tration, and its anxiety for an amicable but hon orable adjustment of the unhappy difficulties, I should feel grateful to him for any kind offices ho might employ in carrying out these peaceful views. As I closed these remarks, the General, with a kind of electric spontaniety "

Electric spontaniety ! [Great laughter.] What in the world that meant I don't know. Mr. Bowlin proceeds up the river. Gen. Urquiza mounts his horse and travels overland, and makes great haste in ordef to get to the Cap ital of Paraguay, where Lopez resides, before the Commissioner arrived. When he gets there he tells Lopez and his Ministers all the choice things that Mr. Bowlin has said, amplifying and rendering them even more impressive, so that when Lopez meets Bowlin he at once greets him with open arms. This is fully recorded in the famous letter to which I have alluded. Accord ing to the best authority, there is an equal amount of delight manifested on this occasion, though we hear nothing of "electric spontaniety." [Laughter.]

One item which strangely characterizes this Administration is the selection of the man sent as Minister to Paraguay. According to his own showing, he is, doubtless, quite a respectable old gentleman, who would have done very well to have remained at home and drove a hay cart [laughter] ; but why in the world he was sent upon a foreign embassy this Adminis tration alone can determine. He writes in the most natural way about the markets of the capital; how the women dressed.that they dressed in calico and •went barefoot [laughter] ; what was their com plexion, and how they smiled and showed their teeth. He says that the country nrmch resembles Missouri — the only place he could think of, I presume, [i Treat laughter, and shouting " Pike!"] It is very like Missouri, he exclaims. He says it stands on two great rivers — a fact of which the President might have been apprised, if he had ever looked at the map. [Laughter.] The Paraguay expedition has come home again, and now we turn to subjects which touch us a little more nearly. We find how one-half of our peo ple were insulted by a threat of tyranny, thrown into their teeth, and for no possible practicable object; how the other half was

disgraced, and how this great Administra tion, engaged in shameful acts, forget the inter ests of the country lying at our doors. Now, we come to the railroad. Gentlemen, was not James Buchanan honored with the vote of California in a very great degree on account of his promise as to that railroad ? ["Yes!" "Yes!"] That prom ise reached here just in time to operate in the election, and not in time to get back home — to such parts of the country as were opposed to a railroad. And then, it appears to me, all the bu siness of James Buchanan in regard to a Pacific Railroad was entirely completed. What else, what else, WHAT ELSE has there been done? Take this Administration according toils own mode of conducting business. Has there ever been a Postmaster discharged in behalf of a railroad? [Laughter.] Has anybody been threatened with expulsion from the Democratic party on account of this road ? And when the President is at work, we are apprised of it by some such sign as that. We hear the most cold, merely verbal recommendations in those formal papers known as "Annual Messages" that there ought to be a railroad — a fact of which we are pretty thor oughly aware. But where, 0 where, can any man show me the influence of .this Adminis tration manifested for the accomplishment of this work ? Nowhere. There is no belief but this: It is considered by every reflect ing man that if there is even one thing under the sun to which President Buchanan is more in different than to another, it is a railroad to Cali fornia. We cannot look into his breast and see the promptings of his heart, but we judge him merely according to what we see in his acts, Why, then, I say, is it that our great people are to be trifled with in this way ? Is the most sub lime office in the world to be won by a false hood ? Here, again, I see one more falsehood, another act of duplicity, and one which should sink deep into the minds and hearts of every man in the State of California. [Great ap plause.] Would it be necessary for me to go further to justify what I said in the beginning — that from the heart and upon my conscience, I do cordially oppose and detest the Administra tion. [Applause and cries of "No 1" ''Enough!*] So many wrongs, so many outrages, such great falsehoods — surely this is enough to make any man stop and refuse, even if there were but five minutes left of the Presidential reign, to give one syllable more to applaud such a man. [Ap plause.] Gentlemen, there is another subject to which I will call your attention, because, like those which I have mentioned, it is to be found in the resolutions of the Cincinnati Con vention. I wish to show one more instance in which the President of the United States, in great affairs, has broken his pledge and plighted word.

There is a resolution among those adopted at the Cincinnati Convention which pledges Jas.Buchan- j an to a sympathy with the struggles of a certain number of our fellow-citizens who were in Central America. I do not ask you now to concur or agree with that portion of our fellow-citizens who were engaged in that struggle. I do not care to

detain you by relating what I personally know upon that subject. Suffice it to say, that in the month of June, 1856, James Buchanan, in solemn form and under his own sign manual, pledged himself to the deepest sympathy with the strug gle of these persons. In his first Annual Mes sage thereafter he did denounce the very same men, engaged in the very same acts, and referring to the very same events throughout, as no better than robbers, pirates and murderers. [Sensation.] Now I ask you, not what you think of these forays — as some of you, perhaps, would call them — in a foreign country, but what you think of your President for having given such a pledge and then improved the first opportunity to unsay it again? Does any man doubt this? He will find it all in print. He will find it by the resolu tions and the votes adopted at the Cincinnati Con- vention,and the President's letter of acceptance of his nomination. He will find in the first Annual Message of the President how those whom James Buchanan called his friends, and to whom he pledged all his sympathy, were denounced for all the crimes in the calendar when speaking of the very same acts for which he had before professed sympathy. Bear in mind still, gentlemen, that I ask no man's opinions with reference to those matters occurring in that part of the world out side of the United States : but take the case as it stands upon the records, and how does it affect the President? In the month of June, '56, the President of the U. States pledged his sj^mpathy with those persons, and in the month of December in the following year after his election,and after re ceiving the votes of all their friends, he denounces these men for the very same acts for which he had declared his sympathy. FALSEHOOD is no light matter in the humblest individual. In the Deca logue few crimes are greater than LYING. I apply no epithets in speaking of such matters. The facts rehearse their own character and that of their authors. I ask you how you would have regarded the transaction if you had been served in this way by an individual of your acquaint ance? If in the month of June, 1856, your neighbor had made you a promise for a consider able sum, and after he had obtained what he had desired, had refused to prform his promise and had seized the first opportunity to de nounce you as the greatest villain unhung? — Gentlemen, this story is a long one, and I shall endeavor, if I do not exhaust your patience, to go through with it. I do not want to dwell long on any particular part. ["G-o on !"] Now, I will call your attention to the condition of the whole continent of North America south of our south ern boundary. Through twenty degrees of latitude on this continent, under every govern ment, in every State, almost in every city, you will find that Americans have been murdered, robbed, or imprisoned. [Sensation.]

I make no rash assertions, because in the very messages of the President himself you will find this thing admitted. What I have to say, gen tlemen, is that not one effort has been made to avenge or to secure redress for any of this mul titude of wrongs. Every drop of American blood there spilled— every American who was bound

down there in chains is still, to this moment un avenged. Is that a Government? Call you that an Administration which will quietly and delibe rately sit by, admitting that it is not safe for a citizen of pur Government to put his foot be yond his own door, not into the very next coun try ; virtually declaring that, whatever may hap pen to him there of evil, no one advance shall be made 'for prevention or redress? Call you that a Government ? Gentlemen, worse and worse. The President of the United States has, in the most formal manner, abdicated one- half the powers of the government. By the Constitution of the United States, he is given command in chief of the army and navy. " Com mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy" is no idle phrase. The meaning of it is that no Ameri can shall suffer wrong, no American shall be murdered, robbed or imprisoned where the army or navy can reach but what he shall be delivered or avenged. [Great applause.] Mark you the distinction — that is not war. War is one thing, and that is another. In time of war the whole force of one country ia directed against all the other country, everywhere, and under all cir cumstances. But I speak of applying the force of the government directly to the case in point. If, in a certain point, an American is imprisoned, discovered to be in irons, in a manner contrary to the habits and usages of civilized countries, it is the duty of the Commander-in-chief of the Ar my and Navy, by the strong hand, to take him. out. War is quite a different thing, for in war you have to employ the army and navy every where else, at every other point, even where no such persons have been imprisoned. I say that the President abdicated this great and most important power when he went to Congress to give him the right to use that power over w'hich he already had control. Congress could not add to his constitutional power, arid ought not so to do; but he found, in this step, an escape from his plain duty under the letter of the Constitution itself. This escape he found by the ab dication of one-half the powers of the government. Gentlemen, worse than that ; for not only have these wrongs been unavenged in any single in stance, not only has there been a formal surren der of the power to avenge them, but actually, in a great majority of cases, the President has never so much as raised a complaint concerning these atrocities. Let 'me call your attention, now, gentlemen, to an event, which, more than any other which has happened since the settle ment of the Pacific coast, is calculated to stir the blood and shock the sensibilities of every man, of every American citizen — above all, of every Californian.

It is not very long since, from the midst of us, there went forth a band of as noble young men as ever departed for any object in the course of history. We do not precisely know what these men went out for. Perhaps I myself know as much, personally, of them and their mission as any other man. From all that can be learned I suppose that it is pretty well determined that these young men were invited into a neighbor ing State of Mexico by a revolutionary party, to

10

give aid in the establishment of the policy of that party, to wit : To take part in some of the pro- nunciamientos and revolutions which constitute the ordinary politics of that country. Upon that invitation, reduced to writing on paper, this party was induced to enter the State of Mexico, with Henry A. Crabb at their head. Do you not remember them ? Has any man here forgotten Henry A. Crabb ? [Applause and hisses.] Have you forgotten any of those who went wilh him? Out of the very flower of the Whig party of this State went these men. They were mainly from the Whig party. Trusted they were, everywhere, in all kinds of difficult positions. And amongst the noblest, bravest and most trustworthy of all public or private men was Henry A. Crabb, a man who would have done honor to any posi tion ; a man whom any people might have de lighted to honor ; a man in whose keeping the powers of this Government would have been safely lodged, and its honor guarded as a great treasure; a man who was fit and capable to oc cupy a seat in the council chambers of the nation as a peer of the best; who would have adorned by his genius any Senate at any period of our history ; that man, I say, was tempted from our midst and slaughtered, slnughtered, SLAUGHTERED, most inhumanly. And the blood of bis compan ions was spilt with his, and with the same terri ble ignominy. All this was done, and where do we hear one word even of remonstrance from this President? Where is the inquiry, addressed in any form, to the Government of Mexico, State or Central ? Where is there any movement about it in our Government, Executive or Legis lative? Total, total indifference I What shall we say of such a President as this ? 0, is the blood of our flesh and blood, the very noblest of our blood, to be shed thus unnoted, unavenged? Are those we most loved, most prized amongst all our brethren, whom we had most delighted to place in places of distinction, before the public gaze, are they to disappear, are they to be butch ered by savages, and not one word of inquiry to come from our Government ? [Sensation.] Is that a Government ? Are we a people ? What are we. that you appeal to us and ask us to sup port a man with all these sins of omission and commission upon his head ? Now here, upon this subject, gentlemen, do I desire to render public thanks to one public man, who at least has raised his voice in condemnation of the Pres ident for entirely overlooking this fact. Gentle men, that man is David C. Broderick. [Tremen dous applause and cheering, lasting nearly two minutes.] Mr. Crabb, bear in mind, never was a personal or political friend of Mr. Broderick. On the contrary, he stood in his way and baulked his ambition. I myself have never, in any man ner, lent a hand to Mr. Broderick to rise one step in the ladder of his ambition. I can claim noth ing on that score. I speak not from any par tiality, but I say, let any man say what he will against Mr. Broderick, let him bring what charges he can against Mr. Broderick, aye, and prove them, too, he was the first man who raised his •voice in favor of avenging the foul murder of a man for whom my grief flows deepest and

for whom my sorrow is most acute. [Great applause.] Are we not men ? Is this thing of civil society and government but a game ? Are there no human feelings, no great interests at stake in this matter? And of these all, what so precious as the blood of our people? [Sensation.] Shall we, then, ibr any conceivable argument of party convenience or expediency, give our countenance to a man who holding tho reins of power, yet has betrayed us by leaving u3 under these grievous wrongs without a remedy — without the. consolation of a notice. But, geutle- men,let us go on. Let us try and see the end of this dark, dark story. About tho time that this party was slaughtered on Mexican soil, four American citizens, whose names I will give you, were murdered by the same band upon American soil. This occurred at a place called Sonoita, just across the boundary line — just on the American side. After these fiends had butchered our friends at this dreadful place, Cavorca, they crossed over to the other side of the line, and, in the night time, took out these men, who were lying ill in their beds, and, placing them against a bank, shot them. It was a devilish deed. Have you ever read that this foul murder of Harrison, Long, Bunker and Parker, upon American soil, was ever avenged, or that even an attempt at redresa was ever made ? Remember, gentlemen, if you please, the names : Harrison, Bunker, Parker, Long. And the witness who saw them shot is now in town to testify to the facts. He was employed there as clerk in the store of Dunbar. He was marched out of the house from which these men were taken to be shot, and carried into Mexican territory, and there detained for ten months, with no assigned cause for his impris onment. He had never heard even of this expe dition in which Mr. Crabb and his companions fell, until a short time before they passed through Sonoita. These desperadoes kept him until they got tired of him, and then they sent him away. And that man is here; that man is ready to swear to these facts. The line had been run by the American Commission and recognized by both Governments. Ths fact has been indispru- tably established that these men were murdered upon American soil ; and it is also true that no complaint has been uttered concerning it by our Government, much less any satisfaction ever de manded therefor. Gentlemen, I, as every other Californian, believe that one good thing has been procured, so far as we are concerced, since this Administration has gone into power and that is the OVERLAND MAILS. Doubtless that good thing has been done. Let us not deny that. Arid in the last Annual Message of the President you hear him recommending that portions of the army of the United States be stationed along at different points, for the pur pose, as he declares, of affording protection to the horses and mules and entire stock of the Stage Company. According to his recommenda- tion.some of these soldiers might be stationed right on the very spot where these Americans were murdered. Within, at least, a few miles of the place where Harrison, Bunker, Parker and Long were murdered,on American soil,our troops would

11

be placed, not to avenge their horrid deaths, but to protect mules and stage horses. [Sensation and laughter.] Gentlemen, as we come north, we find our way to the Mountain Meadows. Here, on a certain day, in the foil of the year '57, were murdered one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty men, women and chil dren — American citizens. Have you ever heard any inquiry into that affair ? What has the Pres't done to ferret out and convict, much less to pun ish, those who committed that enormous crime? He sent an officer into that country — a Judge — who is accused of straining, and who perhaps did strain his powers to obtain information and a conviction ; and I hope to God he did strain a point, as I think any good man would have done, if he thought it necessary, in such a case. [Great applause.] He undertook to inquire into this business. He met with complete proof of the fact that as many as eighty of the Mormons in that valley, disguised as Indians, were engaged in the murder of this immigrant trairt, doubtless for the purpose of avenging the killing of a lech erous old wretch by the name of Parley Pratt, who was killed by a citizen of Arkansas. As many as eighty Mormons were engaged in this massacre, according to the record furnished by Judge Cradlebaugh. Of course there was great resistance and opposition made by this people to the prosecution of any of these inquiries, and when the matter is heard of at Washington, the President just does not remove Judge Cradlebaugh. The President caused a letter to be written to him, informing him that he had violated, tran scended his powers in the premises, but not sug gesting anything to enable him to carry out the great and noble idea of bringing the guilty in this fearful crime to punishment. Who is this man ? What imbecility, what carelessness, what want of common humanity towards the people of the United States does this conduct indicate! Now, two years nearly have passed away. There, at Mountain Meadows lie bleaching the skulls, the arms, the ribs, the thighs, the skele tons of our people. 0, horrid sight I Sixteen or seventeen of the youngest children, spared from that band, are gathered together, but even their names are lost. It is not known even of whom they were born. They are now thrown upon the charge of the Government itself; that is, if we had a Government. Yet all this ter rible enormity is passed entirely by, and we hear of nothing, nothing, except some com mon, low, vile, paltry, partisan squabble in the newspapers. Perhaps a Postmaster is turned out of office, or'another man is appointed to the office of Collector, and all because the old incum bents dared, on the impulse of the momeut, and in the righteous indignation of their souls, to ex press a just criticism upon some act of this Ad ministration, or because the successors are the friends of this or that man, and are believed to posssess a larger influence which they can com mand for the subserviency of the President. Call you that a PRESIDENT ? Is that a GOVERN MENT ? My God 1 my God 1 • And is it possible there is any sane man living who dares to insult an intelligent and free people by asking them to |

sustain for an instant such a man as this ? [Sensation.] I say it requires not many more such Administrations — such Presidents — to bring about the dismemberment of this great Confede racy, this mighty Union, much surer than the fury of partisan heat. Let the government of the people of these United States become thor oughly imbecile and worthless, even as this Ad ministration is rendering it, and it will fall to pieces of itself, without the necessity of applying force in any quarter. [Applause.] Doubtless, more on this account than on any other — more on account of the imbecility, the in dolence and base inhumanity of the Adminis tration than on any other account, do we meet well-informed men, in the private walks of life, xvho think that this Government is A failure. And it is a logical conclusion; for if this is our Government, in the name of God let it fall and be wiped from the face of the earth. [Great ap plause.] What we want the most of a Govern ment is PROTECTION TO LIFE. It must secure, first and always, the safety of persons, guarantee in dividual liberty to every American citizen, and when that fails all else is worthless. [Prolonged applause.]

Gentlemen, as we approach to the end of the list of the prominent acts of this Administration we are again called to consider another of its "triumphs." [Laughter.] We are told in the resolutions passed by the late Administration Convention of this State, that this Administration of Jarngs Bu chanan deserves great gratitude for having sup pressed the Utah rebellion. " Suppressed 1" In the name of mercy! when and how? An army, costing in its outfit and continued supplies as many or more millions than the Paraguay Expe dition, was marched out in the wilderness, and a Commissioner corresponding in character with Mr. Bowlin was dispatched in advance to ask and receive only an apology from Brigham Young. President Brigham said he would sin no more, and President Buchanan agreed to say nothing further of the past.

Is that "SUPPKESSION ? " According to the President's own statement, Brigham Young had committed treason. Now I ask vou what right had this President to pardon treason ? Upon what sort of apology can he chooso to overlook treason for the sake of peace ? Upon the same authority h« may pardon all other criminals for their past iniquities, for th* sake of relieving the police of the trouble of catching them and the courts of the trouble of sentencing aud hanging them. [Lauehter and applause.] Surely this is a mighty "triumph;" over $4,000,000 ex pended; 8000 troops marched to Salt Lake with great pa rade; a United States Commissioner dispatched to anti cipate all fighting; Brigham Young is treated with the utmost consideration, though acknowledged guilty of the crime of treason; his simple cry for pardon is ac cepted as full satisfaction for his iniquities, and now, sav ed from many cares of state, rejoicinc in all his poly gamous glory, he is as happy and as influential as ever. [Great laughter and applause.] Now, gentlemen, will any man, when he finds that this Government avenges no wrongs or gives no protection, whether murders are committed on citizens in foreign lands or within our own bounds, whether by the individual victim or by the score, and all these things are passed over with the most care less indifference, I ask if any man can reasonably say that he was astonished that the President and the Ad ministration showed so little concern at the danger of naturalized citizens being pressed into service by Euro pean cations? It would have been a miracle had it been otherwise. No such thing as a direct, bold manly course on this subject could have been expected from this Pres-

ident After all the vacillation and cowardice hereto- i evasion's sake. Such a course might have boon pursued fore exhibited by this Administration, what else could I from motives of prudence and to e/ade an assertion of a have been expected? Fellow-citizens, according: to the plain duly. The best of men may err, and in those times, telegraphic dispatch, it would seem that the Adminis- ; perhaps, when such a tiling was of most unlikely occur- tration had got frightened at lh« stand it had taken and , renee, it was deemed by noun- of our cautious rulers that was inclined to take the back track. [Laughter,] lint it was better to allow a rare and isolated instance to pass telegraphic dispatches are not always reliable; better i by. But now the case has assumed altogether Different wait and see all that is at the foundation of the rumor be- ! proportions. Peace, in a great measure, has departed, fore we place any confidence in it There is something in j or is on the eve of departing from the whole civili/ed favor of the report at the outset; however, as it is said ; world. We find the flames of war lighting up the val- that the naturalized citizen, in behalf of whom the, pow- i leys, and threatening battles nd carnage unknown since er of the Government is to be exercised, originally came j the year 1815. All Europe is armed. Every nation is

from and was arrested in Hanover. Now, Hanover is the very smallest kind of a country [laughter], and if there is any country in the world with which this Ad ministration would be inclined to hazard an experiment, little Hanover would suit the best. Gentlemen, next to God Almighty, upon tlfis earth, the chief visible power is that of the organized People, State or Nation. Next to the duty we owe to God is the duty we owe to our State ; a corelattve duty the State owes to the oifi7.ru — protection iu all his rights. W- hold in the United States that citizens may be made in two ways; they may be born citizens, or made citizens by a process established and regulated by our laws. Under this process those that are naturalized are but citizens. There is nothing in our laws, nor in the laws of an y country, which discrimin ates and says that the word "citizen" means one thing in reference to one person, and another thing in reference to another person. Now I say that, as the highest duty which a man can

owe, next to his duty to God, is his duty to his country ; so the hishest duty which the country can owe comes back again to the citizen, who lives and labors in her ser vice. "Naturalization'" is a more euphonious wor than " Nativeizing." The foreigner who is naturalized under our law is made natura', made native, and in all things comes upon the same footing with a born citizen

in want of soldiers. Now it is time that this thing, which has been allowed to sleep unnoticed, ruinuiu undisturbed, as of not sufficient importance to be no ticed in times past, requires to be met in the face and our duties in regard to it boldly and explicitly an nounced and performed; the issue is whether we will consent tamely to have our naturalized citizens driven about, or hedged up. or shut within our own boundaries, or whether they shall all have per fect liberty to go wherever civilized man mny ven ture upon the face of the earth. [Great applause.] I am not astonished, I confess, at the telegraphic dis patch to the effect that the Administration is coining around to this doctrine. You would naturally have con sidered that two strongly written letters would have done something towards committing an Administration of ordinary ability and firmness to a particular line of policy, but we have all arrived at the conviction that in matters where prevarication and double dealing is possi

ble, this Administration is a splendid exception.

We must, consider that this latest intelligence amounts simply to a declaration that the Administration have

'"Naturalization'''' is a more euphonious word j yielded to the present pressure, and that it promises no

real consistent action worthy of the name. It is another of those Chinese dodges, intended to operate at home very powerfully, while there is no serious purpose of in-

_ asked a friend this morning, whose business it is to ad- | sisting upon it abroad. Gentlemen, what are we to do minister this process of naturalization, to give me the practically about this matter? I do not know of any- oath that the naturalized citizen had to swear. 1 have thing better than the course prescribed for the President here atopy of the oath, and I will read it, though I by the Congress of the United States during the war of doubt not but than nearly every man who is listening to , 1812. At that time a portion of our troops crossed over me now lias read it. The applicant is brought forward ; j into the British territory of Canada, met with a disaster, he proves that he has been five years in the United ' and General Winfield Scott with some hundred others States, and one year in the State of California — a man of ! were taken prisoners. Among the number of captives

good moral character, and attached to the principles of the Constitution All this is sworn to. by accompany ing witnesses, before a Court of Justice. That being

was a certain number of Irish-American citizens, sol diers in the ranks. They were taken with arms in their hands fighting against the sovereign in whose kingdom

oath : " You do solemnly swear that yon will support the Constitution of the United States; that you do en tirely renounce and abjure all allegiance, and fidelity to every foreign Prince, Potentiate, State and Sovereignty whatever, and particularly to - of whom you have heretofore been a subjeet. So help you God." Does this mean anything or nothing — that he adjures all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, etc.? When he swore

done, these United States require of him to take this j they were born — taken upon his own soil. Straightway

the British officers parceled off the sons of Erin, put them on board of a ship for the purpose of sending them to be tried and doubtless executed for treason. General Scott told the British officer, in whoso hands he was at that momenta prisoner, that the thing thev contempla ted could not be done with impunity, that the Govern ment of the United States would retaliate, and that for every life of one of those rebellious Irishmen, taken in

allegiance'to the United States of America, did he the act of "treason" against the English Govermnent,one straightway become bound in allegiance to the United j would be required from among the number of British States of America? That is all that is in the question, j prisoners in the bands of the Americans. [Great ap- Can we undertake to place a man in a position like that, | plause and hisses.] ^General Scott subsequently repro- to require of him the best service of his brain and his muscle, and the sacrifice of his life at all times, every where and upon all emergencies, even to serve, as is re quired of us, who were born upon this soil, yet say : '•But if you should happen to get within the reach of the only power or person on the face of the earth by whom th re is the least probability of your being mo

sented the matter at Washington, and a law was passed on that subject, which I willread to you :

lested, then, in tha' case, it all meann nothing, and the

" An Act Vesting in the President of the United States

tlie J'mcer of Retaliation :

" SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congres? assembled, That in all and every case wherein,

arresting Government may do as it pleases with you." ! during the present war between the United States of If we would not be a nation of dastards, we are bound America and the United Kingdom of ,Great Britain and to protect this man, just as if he was born amongst us. Ireland, any violations of tli« laws and usages of war

Gentlemen, we borrow this process of naturalization, ns we borrow nearly everythinir else, out of the English

among civilized nations shall be or have bwen 'lone and perpetrated by those acting under authority of the Bri-

law. We find in the English law books, as old as two tisb Government, on any of the citizens of the United hundred years, that naturalization cannot be upon con- ; States, or persons in the land or naval service of the ditions, nor cannot be qualified in a degree, but th-it it i United States, the President of the United States is here in ust be complete, absolute and perfect. By referring by authorised to cause full and am pie retaliation to be to these law books you will find in the appropriate | made, according to the laws and usages of war among phrases, in the language of that time, a clear and dis- : civilized nations, for all and every such violation as tinct announcement of this proposition. But it will be aforesaid.

said that on certain times and occasions, some of the best ! llS c.2. And belt further enacted, That in all cases of our Secretaries of State and President-* have suffered ] where any outrage, or act of cruelty or barbarity shall citizens of the United States to be pressed into military j be or has been practiced by any Indian or Indians in •ervice in European countries. It matters not what was alliance with the British Government, or in connec- uone contrary to law and for expediency sake it the I tion with those acting under the authority of the said early days of our Republic. If such omissions occurred, Government, on citizens of the United states, or those they were permitted against avowed principles and for . under its protection, the President of the United States

13

is hereby authorized to cause full and ample retalia tion to be done and executed on such British subjects, soldiers, seamen, or marines, or Indians, in alliance or connection with Great Britain, being prisoners of war, as if the same outrage, or act of cruelty or barbarity had been done under the authority of the British Gov ernment. "Approved March 3, 1813 "

1 Now, General Scott was charged with the execu tion of this law; it was his duty to see that this retaliation was duly executed. He parceled off just ex actly the same number of British prisoners in his hands as they had >iatumlized Irish-Americans, and then he sent a communication to the British authorities, that for •very Irish-American citizen who suffered, one of these British prisoners should be hung also. [Great applause and a few hisses.] I say, that's the way. It' we are not a nation of dastards— if we are not a grand conglom erate of cowards, then, I say, whether war or peace, we have here a rule— a natural rule— to apply to such a case. [Applause.] I will not stop to argue upon sentences out of books — quoting a passage here and there to make an argument, as though I was before a Court. I will leave it to your judgment and natural sense of justice and mat- hood whether you are not ready to stand up and insist upon the rights of naturalized citizens, as well as the rights of citizens born upon our soil. [Applause.] "Will it bring war ? Let war come. [Prolonged applause.] Who will be the first man to say, I will shrink irom this danger rather than undertake to redress or prevent such a wrong as this ? You could not find any respectable citizen of that temper. Go through the populous portions of the State, and put the question : Ara you willing now, from fear of balls, or from fear of all the dangers of war, are you willing to submit that A or B should be deprived of liberty and shoved into the ranks of a foreign army ? You cannot find the man base enough to answer that question affirmatively. Thtre is no man among us so lost to shame as to submit to the degrading concession which this nerveless, boneless, bloodless Administration has made. Let us then make short work of it. Let us have a law of retaliation in their very face. Let it be made known to the proper authorities in France, Eng land, Germany, and Austria, that for any one of our adopted citizens, born on their soil, who may be forced into the ranks of their armies, we will select one of the best of their unnaturalized subjects in this country, and set him to cracking stones or making bricks in the Peni tentiary. [Great applause and great laugnter, and cries of "Good ! "That's tho practice !"] Under these circum stances you may be sure that there will be very short work made of diplomacy. Not one of these countries •which 1 have named is going to run the risk of beginning a quarrel with us.

I do not pretend to say that the power of your coun try is superior to that of any other; but what advan tage compared with the disadvantage, would it be for England or any of the Nations on the Continent to in augurate a series of reprisals such as I have anticipated, even if it did not lead to direct war ? They would not do it. To silence their whole wrath it only requires, on our part, a firm hand and a proper government.

And now, gentlemen, in all these things of which I have spoken to you to-night, California, more than any other part of the United States, is deeply interested. We delight here to dwell upon the favors which nature has bestowed upon our country. We delight to speak of her climate, her soil, her minerals, her wealth of Beauty — to say that California is a jewel set in the ring of the temperate zone. But, gentlemen, there are other things which should receive attentive consideration from our hands. From California went thote men whose blood was murderously shed on the Plains of Cavorca, sinking unavenged in the soil of Mexico. Mostly from Califor nia went these men who were imprisoned through twen ty degrees of latitude. Our people from one cause and another are exceedingly prone to roam, and venturing abroad, they have met with wrongs and indignities of the nature described. It was to California that these immigrants were coming whose bones now lie bleaching at Mountain Meadows. If, then, there is any part of the United States which can endure an Administration of this kind, which can stand by and approve its conduct, it is not California. — [Great applause.] What may be a light blow to other communities comes home to our very hearts. It may be a matter of indifference to others, comparatively speak ing, that tie President of the United States should abdi

cate all the great powers of the Government essential for the protection of Americnn citizens, but it is no trifle to us, because we are in a position more insu lated that an island, more distant, more difficult of ap proach. And if we are to belong to the American Con federacy, it is only by getting and keeping the powers of the government into hands which have the nerve, courage and intelligence to use them all on every proper occasion. [Applause.] If we have no government; if the "Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy" means nothing, it is an invitation to any one that wants us to come and take us. You will remember that the whole population of the State of California is not more than that of a third or fourth rate European city. In these days they raise urmies by the millions, they have great ships-of-war by the hundreds, and it any one is tempted by the weak, vacillating, timid course of our Govern ment to make an attack upon us, here is the precious point to strike. The only hope for us is in not giving undue power to the Federal Government, but in placing the powers which are now legitimately connected with it in the hands of men who will use them bravely and discreetly ; use them to keep danger from our doors ; use them, if we are attacked, to drive our assailants home again. [Great applause.]

Gentlemen, what good will rcome from all this party strife which we witness among the States on the Eas tern board ? We have no slaves, and never shall have any. No man thinks of introducing slaves anywhere into the State of California. The neighboring State of Oregon won't eren let free negroes come within her borders. [Laughter, j We are entirely cut off. We have our own great interests upon the Pacific coast. First of all is HARMONY through the great body of this Union, and therefore I say that in California we do not want laws passed for slavery or against slavery, or any kind of slave laws. All we want is never to bear j of slaves. Slavery is a matter of no concern to us. Let us use the little influence we have in keeping other people steady and sober, so as to allow the Union to flourish and grow strong, in order that w« may enjoy its protection. To whatever quarter we run a line of extension, and make new States of free white American populations, we strengthen California. Is there any man amongst us — is there any one man who objects to the introduction of five or six slave states, or five or six states which are free states, or both tog jther? All the neighbors that we can get, all the states which can be brought together on the Pacific Coast, will have a common interest, and tend to the pro tection of ourselves, out-lying this day, on this distant border. Let us not be drawn into other peoples' quar rels ; let us not begin taking our opinions from dictation from any source in the east; let us not be bribed by Federal money; let us not be deceived by arguments which have no application to us; let us use what influ ence we have to keep peace among our fellow-country men ; to prevent State from coming into collision with State, and if possible, to have that past cordiality again restored, which alone can keep California permanently under our flag. (Great and prolonged applause).

Gentlemen, in one more light is it our pleasure to contemplate California. I spoke of her as a jewel, as an island. I now speak of her as a promontojy of civiliza rward amid the heathen and

tion, thrust forward

uncivilized

wastes of this Pacific world. Around us are perishing races and crumbling governments. Our policy, our laws, should impress, remodel, and control this mighty mass. Our horizon is studded with the eager eyes of dusky millions, who look to us for their fate, whether for good" or for evil ; whether by a peaceful influence ; whether by conquest and to their destruction. How our part is to be performed, is among the great questions of futurity, but its issues are in our hands", if we are true to ourselves. (Applause). Just as the thirteen colonies lay along the Eastern board, with the waters of the At- 1 lantic on the one side, and the wilderness on the other; so lie we along this western slope, with a greater ocean on the one hand, and an equal wilderness on the other. As they were then, so now are we ; not the rivals of great commonwealths, who in ages have grown to wealth and power, but yet, in the struggling and constructive era, to be built up. We need more enterprise, more ef fective force, more fruitful labor ; and all this to be shielded with the strong hand of a wise and sympathis ing Government.

Gentlemen, I have but one more remark to make, and that is : In the light which I have viewed these questions I have spoken to you more as American

14

citizens than as politicians, and therefore I say to Dein- ocratd, to Republicans, to Whigs if there be any. to Know Nothings, or whatever may l>e the prevailing party amongst our fellow-citizen* of whatever under- standing they may be, whet her in the ranks of a great party, whether in a secret society, so cast your votea now, according to your consciences, that, whatever elso may follow, you will not bring to view again such a President and such an Administration.

At the close of Mr. Randolph's remarks he was greetei with tumultuous applause and cheering.

Loud cries were ma'le for Mr. Broderick.

Mr. POULTERKB announced that it had been expected that Mr. Broderick would address the meeting, but he found it impossible to be present

Tne meeting broke up at 11 o'clock.